Lunch prices to increase at local schools

Friday

Jun 8, 2012 at 12:49 AM

Parents will pay more for local school lunches next year, as federal rules expand while budgets shrink.

Matthew AlbrightStaff Writer

Parents will pay more for local school lunches next year, as federal rules expand while budgets shrink.The Lafourche Parish School Board voted Wednesday night to raise the price of each breakfast and lunch by 10 cents. In Terrebonne Parish, the cost of breakfast will stay the same, but the cost of lunch will increase by 15 cents. There are 176 days in the school year so, should a parent choose to buy lunch every day, the hike in Lafourche amounts to $17.60 over the year, while the lunch hike in Terrebonne amounts to $26.40. Child nutrition supervisors in both parishes say the increases are a result of budget cutbacks and stricter health standards passed down by the federal government. They also say the price jumps aren't likely to be the last parents will see in the next few years.“We increased it by 10 cents last year, and we're probably going to have to increase it for the next few years,” said Lauren Bergeron-Fletcher, who is in charge of Lafourche Parish's cafeteria system. Bergeron-Fletcher said much of the money that pays for school meals comes from the federal government, which, like local and state governments, is struggling with money shortages. To save money, the federal Department of Education has asked local school districts to find more money to pay for the meals. That means asking parents to pay more. Congress passed a law in 2010 that required local school districts to repeatedly increase parents' payments until they're in line with how much the federal government spends per student, or around $2.30 a month. But there's no timeline. “This is something we're required to do, not something we chose to do necessarily,” said Monica Walther, nutrition supervisor for Terrebonne.Both federal and local money go to subsidize school meals. On average, as many as 60 percent of local students qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches because their families have low incomes. But students are not charged the full cost it takes to provide meals. Bergeron-Fletcher said the school district pays about $4 per meal. At the same time as it has started paying less, the federal government has also added new nutritional rules that make school lunches more expensive. New guidelines created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture require schools to offer five meal components every day, including meat, a meat alternate, a fruit, a vegetable and milk. Whereas previously students could take any three of those five compenents, the new guidelines require them to take at least one serving of fruit or vegetables. “The guidelines are meant to be healthier and to help students get into better eating habits,” Bergeron-Fletcher said. “But there's also a significantly increased cost for providing that.”That serving of fruits or vegetables must be at least half a cup — schools were previously required to provide only a quarter of a cup. “They're telling us to increase our portion sizes, and that means putting more food on our plates,” Walther said. “That obviously costs more.”Bergeron-Fletcher said lunch costs more for older students because the required portions are larger. She also mentioned that high school students are given more options than the single cafeteria line offered to younger students.

Staff Writer Matthew Albright can be reached at 448-7635 or at matthew.albright@dailycomet.com.